Madeleine Jane Swete Kelly and Glenda Amayo Caldwell
This paper investigates the role of the architect in post-disaster reconstruction and questions their ability to facilitate permanent building solutions. There is an…
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of the architect in post-disaster reconstruction and questions their ability to facilitate permanent building solutions. There is an ever-increasing population of refugees and internally displaced persons due to disasters and conflicts who have a basic need for shelter. To date, housing solutions for such people has tended to focus on short-term, temporary shelter solutions that have been largely unsuccessful. This increasing demand for shelter has led to an emerging group of architects skilled in post-disaster reconstruction. These architects acknowledge that shelter is critical to survival, but believe architects should focus on rebuilding in a manner that is quick, durable but permanent. They believe that an architect skilled in post-disaster reconstruction can produce solutions that meet the requirement of the emergency phase, through to semi-permanent and even permanent homes, without wasting time and money on interim shelters. Case Study Research was used to examine and evaluate the assistance provided by Emergency Architects Australia (EAA) to the Kei Gold community in the Solomon Islands after the 2007 earthquake and tsunami. The results indicate that an architect’s response to a disaster must go beyond providing temporary shelter; they must create permanent building solutions that respond to the site and the culture while servicing the needs of the community. The vernacular reconstruction methods implemented by EAA in Kei Gold Village have been successful in developing permanent housing solutions. Further research and development is required to gain a broader understanding of the role of the architect in disasters of varying scales and typologies.
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Julia Marcet Alonso, Elizabeth Parsons and Daniela Pirani
This paper aims to explore how a global fashion retailer uses a social media platform to build an appeal via a process of online employer branding.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how a global fashion retailer uses a social media platform to build an appeal via a process of online employer branding.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved a narrative and thematic analysis of posts of a global fashion retailer on LinkedIn. The authors sampled organisational posts and the responses they received over a six-month period.
Findings
The organisation uses carefully curated success stories of “ideal” existing employees to build an appeal based on the values of growth and belonging. While varied, the responses of platform users tend to be limited to brief contributions, questioning the success of the organisation’s attempts at creating an appeal.
Research limitations/implications
The authors argue that employer branding literature needs a new conceptual toolbox, which better reflects the mediated, affective and networked nature of platforms.
Practical implications
To avoid career-washing, employer brands should engage with the networked nature of platforms, fostering authentic conversations with users rather than using platforms merely as a billboard to post content.
Originality/value
The authors theorise the appeal of the employer brand through the concept of the “employer brand promise”. Furthermore, they show how, on social networks, this promise attempts to create value through meaningful engagement. They also conclude by observing how the employer brand promise can act as a form of career-washing, where there is a significant dis-connect between the promise offered and the reality of retail work on the ground.
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Virginia Nordstrom and Victoria Clayton
The value of allowing children to experience frequently the sheer pleasure of good children's literature has long been acknowledged. For at least the past twenty‐five years…
Abstract
The value of allowing children to experience frequently the sheer pleasure of good children's literature has long been acknowledged. For at least the past twenty‐five years, educational researchers and faculty members in schools of education and library science have advocated the use of children's literature in the elementary school curriculum.
THE best description of this Indicator is published on a large folio four‐page statement written by Mr. John Maclauchlan, Chief Librarian of the Dundee Free Library, and issued on…
Abstract
THE best description of this Indicator is published on a large folio four‐page statement written by Mr. John Maclauchlan, Chief Librarian of the Dundee Free Library, and issued on September 22nd, 1879. This sheet is headed, “ Description and Method of using Kennedy's Indicator, invented for the Dundee Free Library in January, 1875, and constantly used therein since July of that year” and contains illustrations of the counter and details of the construction of the Indicator. The following description is abstracted from it:—“This contrivance consists of a series of upright glazed frames so placed as to be easily inspected by the public at the front, or glazed side, and by the library attendants at the back. … Each frame is divided into twenty vertical columns by slips of mahogany, and each of these slips is again sub‐divided into 100 sloping slits by pieces of stiff millboard [now zinc], tightly held in saw cuts made in the sides of the mahogany slips … As the lower edge of each piece of millboard is a little above that of the next one below it, sufficient space is visible of their lower ends in front, and of their upper ends at the back of the Indicator, to receive the catalogue number of each book in the library, printed in bold figures and pasted at the end of the millboard [zinc] strips with strong paste.” Each borrower is provided with a ticket measuring 5⅜ inches by 1 inch, ruled as follows :—
Rachel Wishkoski, Katie Strand, Alex Sundt, Deanna Allred and Diana J. Meter
This mixed-methods study assesses a pilot library curriculum in a general education English composition course. Case-based learning (CBL), a form of problem-based learning (PBL)…
Abstract
Purpose
This mixed-methods study assesses a pilot library curriculum in a general education English composition course. Case-based learning (CBL), a form of problem-based learning (PBL), was used to scaffold information literacy skills and concepts across sessions. This article explores the approach's impact on student learning and engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were enrolled in four sections of an undergraduate composition course. Two sections were taught with the CBL library curriculum, and two with the standard library curriculum as a control. Pretest/posttest surveys included quantitative and qualitative measures to assess students in several areas of information literacy. Weekly reflections from a subsample of students were analyzed, and the research team conducted structured classroom observations and teaching reflections.
Findings
Quantitative survey results did not support the hypotheses that the CBL curriculum would increase students' confidence and skill levels compared to their control section peers. Although there was no significant difference between sections in measured information literacy outcomes, students generally agreed that the case studies used in the CBL curriculum taught skills applicable to their research. Teaching observation data revealed the cohesion of the curriculum across library sessions and increased student engagement in classroom activities. However, some of the case studies could be improved, and some limitations in study design point to the need for further research.
Originality/value
This study addresses a gap in the literature through a mixed-methods assessment of CBL pedagogy using a control group, contributing to an understanding of the role of PBL pedagogies in information literacy curricula.